Biology and Life Sciences

Within the life sciences are a myriad of fields, including botany, horticulture, and zoology. And, within these fields are subspecialties. For example, horticulture includes the areas of landscape design, greenhouse management, and fruit and vegetable production.

The origins of the life sciences date back to the ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian peoples, while the roots of modern biology, which is considered a relatively new development, stem from developments in ancient Greece. The study of nature can be traced to Hippocrates’ interests in medicine, Aristotle’s naturalist tendencies, and Theophrastus’ fascination with botany.

A major breakthrough occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries when Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the Dutch microscopist and scientist, refined and improved the microscope. His ability to grind lenses produced magnification levels of 270 times—a great achievement for the time—and yielded the discoveries of bacteria, blood cells, and spermatozoa. Further refinements in microscopic instruments and techniques led to staining and dissection. By the early 1800s biologists were focusing their attention on the cell as the basic unit of an organism. But it would take another 150 years and many more scientific contributions before James Watson and Francis Crick uncovered the double helical structure of DNA, marking the beginning of the field of molecular genetics. (In recent years, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin have also received credit for playing a role in the discovery of DNA.) The Human Genome Project, which began in 1990, amassed a globalized cadre of scientific labs to discover all the human genes and make them accessible for study.

Today’s life scientists are primarily involved in research and development. They work in the laboratory or field, and enjoy a wide range of employment opportunities in teaching, management, technical service, sales, writing, legal support, and other areas. Among the scientific fields experiencing steady growth are biochemistry, botany, horticulture, genetics, and zoology. Biochemists—who are also called molecular biologists and cellular biologists—explore the tiny world of the cell, study how illnesses develop, and search for ways to improve life on earth. Some biochemists use the CRISPR genome engineering tool to edit or remove genes that cause disease or other medical conditions; increase the shelf life and improve the nutritional value and taste of fruits and vegetables; and to meet other goals. Botanists study plants and their environment, with an eye on causes and cures of diseases that attack crops. Horticulturists work with orchard and garden plants such as fruit trees and vegetables. They work to improve crop yields and quality. Zoologists study animal behaviors, diseases, and life processes. Their work can focus on the animal’s essence of cells and molecules up through evolution and ecology. The largest segment of life scientists work in medical and pharmaceutical research, technical professions, or education. The United States federal government and state governments collectively employ a substantial number of workers in this field.

Biology and the life sciences are essential for human existence. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that 352,000 life scientists were employed in a variety of fields in the United States as of May 2023. Employment in this field is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations from 2022 to 2032. Our increasingly shrinking world—in which more species are endangered or have been wiped out, the need for humans to acquire more physical space for living and more food for survival, and the urgency to eradicate pestilence and disease—should drive the demand for biologists and life scientists, particularly in horticulture, botany, genetics, and zoology.

An emerging field is synthetic biology, the use of biological components as building blocks to create new biological entities such as genetic circuits, enzymes, and cells or to redesign existing biological systems. In 2022, the United States launched a national biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative in order to use these technologies "to lower prices, create good jobs, strengthen supply chains, improve health outcomes, and reduce carbon emissions."